Friday, September 25, 2009

BBQ PIG TAILS...really ugly, but really tastey

quite possibly the ugliest thing i have tried to date.
BUT i must tell you, a little funny to admit... i've actually cooked these twice now..i think i secretly like them. they're kinda sinfully delicious...

once again, i was perusing the meat section of my favorite Mexican market and i came across these babies all nice and freshly packaged...couldn't pass them up. i had seen a post a while back, i wish i could remember whose, about pig's tails and i was flabbergasted..i mean really amazed, that someone could take such an ugly pig-part, cook it and then eat without laughing so hard that you could even swallow...






i'm not quite sure why the tails are butchered this way, sliced through all the way 'till the tip, because it makes them a bit difficult to eat (AND painfully phallic!). maybe i just don't have the correct pig tail know-how, but as you can see from my past experience with oxtails here and turkey tails here, i'm not the new kid on the block when it comes to tails. i suppose it's a way to get the BBQ heat to the meat AND the fatty outer layer crispy at the same time. hmmm...




tell me these babies are not s shocker to look at...

i wasn't sure i could even go through with the purchase.

look at THEM!!!
what do YOU think they resemble?

here is the recipe i used as a guidline
8 pig tails, rinsed
6 cloves garlic, halved
1 onion, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste
1 teaspoon salt

i also added 1 quartered onion, 2 cut carrots, 2 stalks cut celery
cumin, chili powder, oregano...really anything you think would be flavorful.

DIRECTIONSPlace the pig tails in a large stock pot, and fill with enough water to cover. Cover the pot, and bring to a boil. Boil for 10 to 15 minutes. Drain, and clean the pot of any debris, then return the tails to the pot and cover with cold water. (this step i find important. i have started to do this with other odd animal parts i'm not fami;iar with or that have alot of bone such as large beef ribs) Bring to a boil again, and season with onion, red pepper flakes and salt. Boil for about 2 hours, or until the tails are almost falling apart.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Line a roasting pan with aluminum foil.
Drain the pig tails, and place them on the roasting pan. The stock from the tails may be used to cook turnip greens, cabbage or black-eye peas.
Roast the tails for 30 to 40 minutes, until the tails pop and sizzle and the skin browns. Take care when opening the oven door. Allow the tails to cool, and serve with your favorite side dishes.

11 comments:

Mags @ the Other Side of 50 said...

OMG! LOLOL! I'm speechless! (But I so want to try this recipe...lolol) LOL... again!

Jules and Ruby said...

Mags. i'm so glad you saw these. the photos weren't accepted. imagine that! i hope you will be LOL-ing all the way to the butcher for some tails...thanks for stopping by.

Anonymous said...

Just a FYI - The tails are sometimes split because of the way the hogs are processed - during the butchering process - very large saws split the hog in two halves - including the tail sometimes....
usually customers only like buying the WHOLE tail intact - versus the split ones. Kind of reminds me of a turkey neck.....

Jules and Ruby said...

thanks Anonymous...i never knew that. they would be like turkey neck if left whole. i tried turkey necks last month and they were really tough. i should have cooked them like the tails. next time...if there is a next time.

HerMajestyQueen said...

This certainly looks good, I can hardly wait to try it...Thank you...

Jenn said...

I love pig tails too. I have been using ChiChi Wang's recipe from her Nasty Bits column on Serious Eats which calls for braising then deep frying. A lot of work but just delicious!

Also thrilled to find your site - I am a big nose-to-tail eater as well and love the weird bits - I especially loved your posts about turkey tails!

Jules and Ruby said...

HI IMPULSIVLEY!!!
so glad to hear from another tail-eater. i too love the Nasty Bits column. i've wanted to deep fry a lot of odd-bits, but i've never fried anything...can ya believe it?! i pickled some pig ears a while back and froze them for my big "FRY-DAY"...how does Crispy Pickled Pig Ears sound? YUM.
ALSO...i have a delicious post coming up soon about SNOUTS...probably next week. hope to hear from you again. thanks for the great comment.

Jenn said...

Are you as sad as I am that Chichi hasn't posted anything new for Nasty Bits in a long time? So many great ideas... I've made lots of stuff from that column, almost all great :)

I've only recently started deep frying - I don't own a fryer as I feel that will be a slippery slope (just use my enameled Dutch oven) and I dislike using so much oil for just a few frys. The pig tails were a little tricky - they do splatter quite a bit.

Mmmmm I love pig ears too! I haven't made the pickled version but I did try Chichi's deep fried version on her site. Love it and I wish you lots of success on that one.

Look forward to reading about those snouts!

-Jenn

Jules and Ruby said...

hi Jen...more pig tails coming your way soon...i'll get the post ready. 4 lbs of pig tails...YUM! i braised them in Asian flavors. maybe i'll fry some tomorrow

jade said...

I pulled in to sample the food at the humble-looking little metal building. Best Food Truck In LA

Lois said...

This is similar to Amish pig tails. I'll be trying both

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